Local Capacity Strengthening for Response (LCS4R) Project

International Medical Corps and Concern Worldwide are implementing the Local Capacity Strengthening for Response (LCS4R) project, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance. This project will focus on Malawi and Ethiopia in Africa, and Bangladesh and Pakistan in Asia.

The project will work with local and national NGOs to strengthen organizational capacities, to enable more effective responses to disasters and emergency situations. LCS4R, which will employ a range of complementary approaches and methodologies that offer a number of varied learning approaches, will emphasize networking and collaboration among participating organizations and the wider humanitarian community.

The program is structured around the following three components:

Component 1: Intensive Capacity Strengthening Training and Mentorship. Selected organizations will have the opportunity to engage in a participatory capacity-development needs assessment, prepare capacity development plans, and participate in training sessions and a mentorship program.

Component 2: Capacity Strengthening Symposium. To increase the scope and impact of LCS4R, the program team will organize two symposiums (one per region). These events will enable humanitarian practitioners and community-based organizations, local NGOs and national NGOs to further enhance their capacity to respond to emergencies.

Component 3: Knowledge Management Platform. To ensure that the resources offered through the program are not limited to the participating organizations, LCS4R will develop and implement a knowledge management platform that will consolidate and promote the resources, materials and best practices developed during the project.

Call for Applications

The purpose of this call for applications is to invite eligible local and national NGOs to submit an application to be included in Component 1 of the program. Please see the links below for more information about the application process, and the application documents:

Guidance note – Application process >

• Bangladesh application documents >
• Ethiopia application documents >
• Malawi application documents >
• Pakistan application documents >

Eligibility Criteria

• Organizations must be legal entities with proof of registration as independent NGOs in their home country and with no political ties. The registration certificate must be valid for at least 6 months from the date of the application submission.
• Participating organizations must be engaged in emergency response and/or Disaster Risk Reduction activities. LCS4R will prioritize organizations with prior experience in emergency response activities and/or Disaster Risk Reduction activities. The project may consider organizations with development experience and looking to strengthen their capacity to work in emergencies.
• Organizations must have been operational for a minimum of three years.
• The language of instruction will be English. The senior members of the organizations who will participate in the training activities must demonstrate conversational and comprehension at a level that will enable them to benefit and contribute to the learning processes of the training program.
• Organizations must be able to commit time and human resources for the duration of their participation in the project. Organizations must assign a senior-level staff member as consistent point of contact for the project. Senior staff members of the organization must be available to participate in training activities.
• Organizations must demonstrate that they have dedicated staff (part-time or full-time) covering the core organizational areas (HR, Finance, Procurement, MEAL, Administration, Operations) that the LCS4R project will target.
• NNGOs must demonstrate that they are currently implementing programs and have sufficient funding to continue humanitarian response programming for a minimum of one year after the LCS4R project concludes.
• Preference will be giving to organization that are currently not participating in a similar capacity development project.
• LCS4R strongly encourages applicants to nominate at least two female senior staff members to participate in the LCS4R training activities and mentorship activities. Please refer to the Gender Balance Statement of Commitment part of this application package.

Timeline

Application Submission

The application form should be filled out as per the instructions provided in each section.  It should be submitted (in Microsoft Word format) along with the other required documents via email to LCS4Rproject@internationalmedicalcorps.org.  Please indicate “Application – Call For Applications (LCS4R): COUNTRY name” in the subject line of the e-mail.

Interested organizations should submit completed applications by midnight EST (Eastern Standard Time, USA) on November 29, 2021.  Only complete applications in compliance with the guidelines received within the deadline will be considered for further review.

The LCS4R team will monitor the developments of COVID-19 and may adjust the project implementation activities to ensure the safety of the project staff and client CBOs, LNGOs, and NNGOs. These adjustments may result in limiting the travel under the project, delivering the in-person activities virtually, and others.

The LCS4R team reserves the right to change or cancel the selection process for reasons out of its control at any time without any obligation to inform the interested organizations as to the reasons for the action.